*** The Car Cleaning Thread ***

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Blackhawk47 said:
Would have thought leaving the car in the rain with no wax/freshly clayed would actually reduce the chance of water spots since the most of the water will sheet off eventually?
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Noooooooo.

Wax is a water repellent, no wax means water just sits there and will leave watermarks everywhere.

Not to mention rain water isn't clean, it has picked up lots of particles in the air on the way down, especially if you live in a polluted area near the city.
 
Nonsense, waxed cars get way worse water spots from the beading.

In fact, dirt in general is just worse. I can go and get a photo now if it's really necessary, but a few weeks ago paint corrected and waxed a small section of paint on my lexus which gets washed once a year and god only knows when it last saw wax. The waxed section is consistently the dirtiest part of the car now.
 
Clarkey said:
Nonsense, waxed cars get way worse water spots from the beading.

In fact, dirt in general is just worse. I can go and get a photo now if it's really necessary, but a few weeks ago paint corrected and waxed a small section of paint on my lexus which gets washed once a year and god only knows when it last saw wax. The waxed section is consistently the dirtiest part of the car now.
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How does that work? :confused:

By that logic we shouldn't wax our cars if I want a clean car? Could it be wax is soft and dirt cling onto that but with bare paint there is nothing to cling onto?
 
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I should add the polish is AG SRP which has a lot of fillers. As I understand, it needs a coat of wax on top to protect these fillers from washing out, so my desperation was based on more than just a concern over water spots.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
How does that work? :confused:

By that logic we shouldn't wax our cars if I want a clean car? Could it be wax is soft and dirt cling onto that but with bare paint there is nothing to cling onto?
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Wax is good in the sense that when it rains, and then stops raining, if you drive the car straight away the water will bead off.

I waxed my car friday, rained friday night but okay weather next morning. Drove down the road and back left the car pretty clean/dry, especially the roof + bonnet.

You'll find some products, eg meguiars shampoo etc actually encourages water sheeting rather than just beading.
 
Surely it's just a function of the amount of water and how it hits the surface. Turn a hose on a surface with any wax on it and water will sheet off. Spray a fine must and the water drops will bead because the volume isn't enough for them to group together and become heavy enough to slide off. Which is why light rain causes beading. I just looked outside at my car sitting in the rain and the water is beading on the surface and running off as the amount of rain on one particular area becomes great enough to sheet off.

What I'm saying is that water sheeting/beading are essentially the results of reduced surface tension. I don't think it's possible for a product to specifically produce one effect or the other.
 
Gave the new car it's first proper clean today..wash, clay, polish and wax :)

Only got round to doing the bonnet and wings with DA....the car is FULL of swirlmarks!!! Luckily they appear to be very shallow and most come off in one pass...I'm thinking of just paying for a complete stage 1 detail as the car really needs it!

Before:
PD3mGKl.jpg


After:
q39Binw.jpg


Finished:
WmhEtN9.jpg

0HHRLlL.jpg
 
Conscript said:
Surely it's just a function of the amount of water and how it hits the surface. Turn a hose on a surface with any wax on it and water will sheet off. Spray a fine must and the water drops will bead because the volume isn't enough for them to group together and become heavy enough to slide off. Which is why light rain causes beading. I just looked outside at my car sitting in the rain and the water is beading on the surface and running off as the amount of rain on one particular area becomes great enough to sheet off.

What I'm saying is that water sheeting/beading are essentially the results of reduced surface tension. I don't think it's possible for a product to specifically produce one effect or the other.
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Yeah I get all that. But if it came out sunny right now and your car was sat there with water beads on it you'd end up with loads of water spots all over the car, like me. Whereas you're neighbours unwaxed car probably won't.
 
Blackhawk47 said:
Yeah I get all that. But if it came out sunny right now and your car was sat there with water beads on it you'd end up with loads of water spots all over the car, like me. Whereas you're neighbours unwaxed car probably won't.
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Given the choice, I rather have a waxed car with lots of water spots than knowing the car's paint is unprotected with no spots.
 
-Mike- said:
Depends which one you go for! The hose length varies, I purchased another hose for mine from direct hoses on ebay, its pretty heavy duty - feels like hydraulic line instead of plastic pressure washer hose.

The karcher one won't fit your nilfisk if you get one.
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Bit of a bump, but I've decided that I don't like the hose that came with my Nilfisk. Length isn't bad (8m), but because it's quite stiff plastic, it keeps coiling itself back up and getting tangled and twisted as I'm walking around the car.

Do you find the directhoses replacements a bit more manageable? The one I bought for the Karcher was nice and heavy and easy to manage, but it came from "cleantec_online", who seem to charge a lot more. I don't want to buy a replacement longer hose but find it's still quite cheap and light and keeps trying to recoil itself.
 
Do you guys rate Bilberry wheel cleaner? Is it as good as the videos would have you believe?

I've got some ingrained brake dust that won't come out with normal washing.
 
I recently got Bilberry wheel cleaner, it hasn't impressed much so far, maybe I diluted it too much, I did 250ml of cleaner to 500ml water I think.

Dragons Breath is great but expensive.
 
If your wheels are really, really minging use a 1:1 bilberry mix - or neat but be really careful how long you leave it on for

I find it really effective combined with power washer, but I guess it depends just how bad your wheels are
 
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